You'd be hard pressed to see a better depiction
of a baseball great than this one. The film was adapted from baseball writer
Al Stumps biography that Cobb invited him to do on his life story. Stump
spent months in Cobbs house and ended up with a whitewashed, dubious bio
that was dictated to him.

The film was taken from Stumps book that
he wrote afterwards that details the period he spent as a guest of Cobb.
And what a period it was. What we have here is a drunken Cobb lashing out
and firing his help left and right and at Wuhl as well. He also managed
to rip apart blacks, Jews, women, liberal politicians, and in some cases
fellow ballplayers. Wuhl Gives us a vivid account of a horrifying, death
defying car ride that Cobb took him on. At films end we have a picture
of a lonely, forgotten man with no friends and nobody attending his
funeral.

It's a harrowing look at a baseball legend. Nothing
is spared.

The baseball scenes showing Cobbs period as a player
are the best I've seen on the screen.

Star pitcher befriends a not very talented and
slow witted catcher. Early on the catcher is diagnosed with a quick acting
cancer and the pitcher does everything he can to keep it from the team and
the manager.

When they do find out, the team comes together
and starts to win. The film highlights not only the game of baseball but
also the human element and how it reacts to a situation that can't be
remedied.

Deniro, in one of his early roles is terrific as
the dying catcher and Moriarity is wonderful as a Tom Seaver like pitcher.
The actors for the most part can play baseball and their scenes on the field
are not embarrassing!

Probably holds the record for the longest title
for any baseball film. Besides that it's one of the best as well.

A look at baseball during it's segregated days and it
doesn't pull any punches. Baseball is shown here as promulgating the racist
sensibility that was around during those days .nobody is
spared!

Having no chance to get into the Major Leagues during
that period, a group of black ball players form a team of their own and over
time challenge the best Negro teams around. In a winner take all game
Bingo Long win's. The film ends with the realization that the Negro Leagues
are about to end because segregation is over in the Majors and blacks are
being recruited into white baseball. The depiction of that baseball period
seems authentic.

Ron Skelton and Robert Wuhl worked together in
another fine Baseball film (Cobb) that we reviewed up above.

Durham is one of the best films around that deals
with life in the Minor Leagues.

A former so so Major League catcher is brought
to the Minor League Durham club to prepare the players for Major League play.
While there he meets a young woman (Susan Sarandon) who feels it's her duty
to initiate the rookies sexually when they arrive. Her latest project is
an enormously talented Pitcher (Tim Robbins) who hasn't been able to harness
those talents. The catcher (Kevin Costner) takes on Robbins as well and get's
him into the Major's. Along the way Sarandan and Costner fall in love. In
real life that happened as well to Sarandon and Robbins.

As was the case in Beat the Drums the major roles
starred players who knew how to play the game.

A perfect blend of fantasy and drama works very well in this adaptation of
William Kinsella's best selling novel.

A farmer hears a voice telling him, "If you build it he will come." He goes
ahead and builds a baseball field on his property and is ridiculed by everyone.
Eventually Shoeless Joe Jackson comes to play on the field and he brings
others with him. At films end a long procession of cars are seen heading
to the "Field of Dreams" to watch early baseball greats play in a game. Would
it were so in real life.

The fix is on and it was awful for baseball but
it made for a terrific film. John Sayles not only directed but starred in
it as well.

We're all familiar with the Black Sox scandal of
1919 but prior to that there were several fixes in the game. This one gets
most of the attention because of several reasons. Some of the biggest stars
in the game were involved, Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Ed Cicotte. MLB decided
to hire Kennesaw Mountain Landis as Commissioner to clean up the mess. However
Landis was no fountain of justice. He looked away at other fixes that came
along and was responsible for keeping blacks out of the game until he died
in 1947. On another note he refused to let women enter the game as
well.

Eight Men Out pretty much keeps true to what happened
and does it with a minimum of sensationalism and an intelligent script.

It does include though the, "TELL ME IT AINT SO,
JOE" scene which never happened.

During World War Two Major League baseball was
depleted, The majority of players were in the services and all the teams
fielded inferior players game after game.

Cubs owner Phil Wrigley came up with a plan to try to make up
for that. He created a league that featured women players. It was moderately
successful.

League of Their Own takes a look at that period
and comes up with a gem of a film. Witty, informative and highlighted by
some wonderful performances, it was a big hit in the box office. Like most
of the films featured here the stars didn't make shabby players and performed
well in the field. There are several different stories that weave in and
out of the plot. All of them are interesting but the highlight is the
films look at that whole period which hopefully will not come around again.

Geena Davis seemed highlighted for a gigantic
career after this but it never happened She became interested in other areas
and she will do an occasional play, her film career is now on
hold.

Chasing 3,OOO came out as an independent
film in 2010 without any hoopla, practically no promotion effort, and without
any major stars. It had no budget to speak of and as of now has made a modest
profit. The film has however attained a "SLEEPER" status. It is a staple
on the late night 12 o'clock movie circuit. It really is a wonderful little
classic dealing with dedication to the game, the love between brothers, and
a tribute to Roberto Clemente.

The storyline is a simple one. Two brothers
who are Roberto Clemente fans are determined to see him get his 3,000th hit.
One of the brothers has muscular Duystrophy which makes the trip a difficult
one. Along the way they encounter several people and have some diverse
adventures.

Wont give away the ending so you'll just have to
see it for yourself. That wont be easy but it's worth a look.